KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission and KZN Tourism merged to form KwaZulu-Natal Tourism and Film Authority.

by Thinus Ferreira

The KwaZulu-Natal provincial government has merged the KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission and KwaZulu-Natal Tourism to form the KwaZulu-Natal Tourism and Film Authority (KZNTAFA) with Sibusiso Gumbi as interim CEO.

Prof. Thandi Nzama is the KZNTAFA chairperson.

Instead of a separate organisation promoting tourism to KwaZulu-Natal and a separate film commission for the province, the provincial government has merged these separate functions.

According to KwaZulu-Natal's department of economic development, tourism and environmental affairs, KZNTAFA will have to focus on "marketing and promoting the tourism and audio-visual industries, facilitating sector development, creating sustainable growth and job opportunities, and addressing historical imbalances in infrastructure, skills, and resource distribution".

The tourism part of KZNTAFA will be tasked to "continue to explore new and innovative ways to profile Destination KwaZulu-Natal through partnerships with mega-events, TV, film and music productions".

According to the KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission in 2022, KwaZulu-Natal was South Africa's fastest-growing film destination in the country and two years ago accounted for 12% of the country’s filming activity.

The merger of the two organisations is supposed to open "up a range of new opportunities for skills development in the areas of local film concept development, packaging, distribution and marketing".

The merger to create KZNTAFA is supposed to "assist in attracting larger film productions, particularly during KwaZulu-Natal's mild winter season". That is what the KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission has been doing anyway over the past years.

KZNTAFA is supposed to "additionally allow the province to tap into South Africa’s existing co-production treaties with Canada, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland to attract upcoming productions" - again something the KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission has been doing.

No Penguin but Harry Potter and Green Lanterns series will now be seen on M-Net in South Africa after Warner Bros. Discovery switches them to HBO Originals.

by Thinus Ferreira

The boy who lived and a green lantern will now be on the channel that won't stop the magic - although The Penguin won't - after Warner Bros. Discovery in the United States decided to switch big-budget series under its Max Originals banner to HBO Originals.

Big-budget HBO Originals shows like House of the Dragon - currently in its second season - are guaranteed to broadcast on MultiChoice's M-Net (DStv 101) linear channel as well as its video streaming service Showmax due to existing output contracts.

Max Originals made for Warner Bros. Discovery's streamer Max - a video streaming service that isn't available in South Africa - are not guaranteed to air on DStv or Showmax.

In a strategic rethink, WBD and HBO executives have now decided to move all of its big and expensive series - whether originally earmarked for HBO or for Max - all to HBO. These shows will now debut first as HBO Originals on the HBO linear TV channel. 

Expensive shows like the Harry Potter TV series envisioned to run for a decade and the IT prequel series Welcome to Derry, originally earmarked as Max Originals, are now changing to HBO Originals.

HBO also commissioned a new 8-episode live-action drama series, Lanterns, chronicling an Earth-investigation by two Green Lanterns, John Stewart and Hal Jordan, which will now be an HBO Original series from the outset. 

Max Originals set for release within the next few months and later this year and which are already marketed and being sold and distributed internationally as Max shows, will however remain Max Originals. One of these is The Penguin, which M-Net told me last week it hasn't acquired the broadcasting rights for.

The Penguin, set for release in September, is an 8-episode limited series with an unrecognisable Colin Farrell starring as the Penguin, reprising his role from The Batman, alongside Cristin Milioti and Rhenzy Feliz. 

The science fiction drama series, Dune: Prophecy is likewise a Max Original and since it's also set to be released later this year, will also remain a Max Original.

Green Lanterns detective series

Meanwhile, HBO has announced that Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof and Tom King will co-write and executive produce the new 8-episode Lanterns live-action drama series, done in association with Warner Bros. Television and DC Comics.

According to HBO "The series follows new recruit John Stewart and Lantern legend Hal Jordan, two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland".

James Gunn and Peter Safran, co-CEOs of DC Studios, in a statement, say "We're thrilled to bring this seminal DC title to HBO with Chris, Damon and Tom at the helm. John Stewart and Hal Jordan are two of DC's most compelling characters, and Lanterns brings them to life in an original detective story that is a foundational part of the unified DCU we're launching next summer with Superman".

Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO and Max content, says "We are elated to be reuniting with both Chris Mundy and Damon Lindelof as they partner with Tom for this fresh take on DC's Green Lantern. As part of James and Peter's vision for the DC Universe, this first new live-action series will mark an exciting new era."

Lanterns which would have been a Max Original is now a HBO Original.

ALSO READ: Harry Potter series to debut in 2026.

National Geographic commissions Jaws at 50 documentary feature film for 2025's Sharkfest.

by Thinus Ferreira

National Geographic (DStv DStv 181 / StarSat 220) has commissioned a Jaws at 50 feature film that will debut in 2025 for the yellow frame's Sharkfest, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Steven Spielberg blockbuster.

National Geographic is working with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Documentaries and Nedland Media to create the documentary, with Laurent Bouzereau from Nedland Media who is the director. Ted Duvall is the executive producer for National Geographic.

Jaws at 50 will include archive footage and photography from the Steven Spielberg archives, as well as from novelist Peter Benchley, together with new interviews that will include experts from the world of ocean conservation.

Jaws at 50 will primarily look at Peter Benchley's writing of the book, the chaotic production behind-the-scenes of the film which went over budget and over schedule, the notoriously difficult mechanical sharks which malfunctioned and broke, as well as the adverse weather conditions, seasickness and other on-location tumult that impacted the making of Jaws.

Besides the "making of"-aspect, Jaws at 50 will also look at the world and impact of sharks today, through testimonials from people who have dedicated their lives to studying and safeguarding sharks and our seas.

National Geographic says Jaws at 50 "will capture our endless fascination with sharks and the changing dialogue about these awe-inspiring creatures" and will be broadcast on the National Geographic channel and be available on Disney+ during 2025's Sharkfest event.

"National Geographic has celebrated sharks for over two decades with our annual summer event Sharkfest, so we naturally jumped at the chance to partner with Amblin Documentaries and Nedland Media on Jaws at 50," says Janet Vissering, senior vice president for production and development at National Geographic, in a press release.

"Jaws not only became a massive pop culture phenomenon, but the initial fear it elicited propelled the world's fascination with sharks, opening the door to our understanding of these apex predators and stressing the urgency in protecting our oceans."

Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey, the presidents of Amblin Documentaries and Amblin Television, say "Jaws, the novel by Peter Benchley and the film by Steven Spielberg, defined both popular literature and cinema".

"The idea of diving into the past, present and future legacy of Jaws, combined with an informed and inspiring discussion about sharks and the ocean in one documentary, is a unique opportunity to explore the perfect union between art and science."

OPINION. Why Canal+'s MultiChoice takeover will be a DStv minus.

by Thinus Ferreira

When Canal+'s takeover of MultiChoice is done - a deal where it's all about money and not about average consumers - pay-TV in South Africa won't be better or mean improved content.

Here I highlight how and why MultiChoice, taken over by Vivendi's Canal+, will be a net negative for South Africa in terms of content contraction, how South African TV news will effectively come under French control, together with predicted corporate downsizing and job losses at MultiChoice in South Africa and across the African continent.

Also spare a thought for South Africa's mangled media regulations which will be left in tatters in the buyout's wake - regulations which will have proved fruitless in preventing foreign media ownership of the local broadcasting space.

"Will we get better content with Canal?" a DStv subscriber asked me in an email. I smiled. It's one of several that asked about the same thing.

While average TV viewers and DStv subscribers are under the impression that Canal+'s buyout plan of MultiChoice is some benevolent action to create a better DStv, improve content or the traditional pay-TV customer experience, the reality is that it's all about mega-mergers, acquiring corporate scale, and above all - making money.

Neither Vivendi's Canal+, nor MultiChoice care in the slightest about how a corporate take-over and MultiChoice falling into a French company's hands will affect or "improve" DStv. It's all just about money, honey.

Canal+ (that just like MultiChoice) sees the writing on the world as far as legacy media and broadcasting companies are concerned, must "grow" and radically change amidst the epoch change of video streaming led by the Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video of this new dispensation. 

With Canal+ even more constrained in Europe than MultiChoice in Africa when it comes to growth opportunities to build scale, the other option in the merger and acquisition (M&A) playbook is to just go buy something. 

Canal+ is playing Walmart here, trying to gobble up parts to expand when organic growth is no longer a viable option.

MultiChoice shareholders will cash in - literally - in a Canal+ buyout: Those looking to leave and get rid of their investments in legacy media and those just ready to make a profit will all simply say sayonara and laugh all the way to the bank. And as a sidenote: MultiChoice actually wants shareholders to approve the Canal+ deal.

And from the small print: Keep in mind that there are massive cash retention bonuses that MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela and Tim Jacobs as chief financial officer will pocket upon the Canal+ takeover going through to the tune of R15 million.

While MultiChoice and Canal+ might make noises that there won't be downsizing - or no corporate downsizing for a stipulated period - after the buyout sale is concluded, you can bet your bottom euro that MultiChoice staff will be let go sooner or later. MultiChoice in staff size won't remain that size after a Canal+ transaction goes through.

Similar to when a company like Ster-Kinekor in South Africa gets a new (foreign) owner - or mega buyouts and mergers happen in America like Disney with Fox, Warner Bros. and Discovery, or when Viacom and CBS were put back together to create Paramount Global - the result is always job losses.

The corporate speak is always: "We are rightsizing the new company to enhance efficiencies and eliminate redundancies". The market by the way - where again, it's all about money - loves corporate downsizing and less being paid to salaries because it means ... more possible profit.

Content creation and contraction

When it comes to Canal+ content, it's like Princess Leia said to Han of the Anoat system in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back: "There's not much there".

What does Canal+ have in terms of broad, general entertainment, sport or other mass-market international content that MultiChoice doesn't already have or the licensing rights to? Nothing much.

And Canal+'s French and European rights doesn't extend to Africa, anyway - they're bought for France and Europe. 

MultiChoice and M-Net will continue to acquire content and licensing rights for South Africa and the Rest of Africa (RoA) territories as they've been doing, so Canal+ wouldn't make that "easier", except for perhaps the bulk-buying of global sports rights.

Will Canal+ taking over MultiChoice suddenly lead to this massive influx of new content, new popular shows that DStv subscribers haven't seen before and a boost for Showmax as its streaming service? Absolutely not.

More likely Canal+ will, after its acquisition, make MultiChoice close some content taps or turn some down to a trickle. After an M&A, the buying company looks for aggressive cost-cutting in the company it acquired. And what's in MultiChoice's store and on the shelves are ... content. 

Since there can't be underperforming store closures (except in places like Ghana where there is a MultiChoice office and a Canal+ office that would surely merge leading to one building closed down), Canal+ might look to cull and "rationalise" on things like TV channels.

It will be interesting to see what happens after Canal+ grabs the crown to the number of M-Net Movies or Africa Magic TV channels for instance, and if there is a decrease in what is bought from international distributors and American studios. 

What would really be bad and sad is if Canal+ ends up gutting or changing what remains of M-Net, becoming a Roman regional outpost in Africa to Canal's French empire

News questions

What would the feeling be if MultiChoice were to take over and own the French TV news channels France24, Canal+'s CNews, or Altice Media's BFM TV news channel?

With the Canal+ takeover, South Africa's SABC News (DStv 404), eMedia's eNCA (DStv 403), and Thokozani Nkosi and Thabile Ngwato's Newzroom Afrika (DStv 405) will all effectively "belong" to a French company.

The South African public broadcaster's SABC News channel can't exist or function without the millions paid to it annually by MultiChoice. It was in fact MultiChoice that set up the channel and asked the SABC to produce it. Without MultiChoice's influx of cash, the SABC News channel can't survive on its own.

eMedia's eNCA as a TV News channel was exclusively created, and is paid by MultiChoice, to be an exclusive pay-TV news channel for just DStv. 

Similarly, Newzroom Afrika was commissioned by MultiChoice to be an exclusive DStv channel and is paid and funded by MultiChoice. Not one of these three TV news channels can function without MultiChoice.

Where is the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) on the issue of another country's private company, effectively through proxy, holding and being able to exercise total control of three South African TV news channels and the possibility of editorial news interference?

Canal+ will say they don't own these news channels. But Canal+ will own MultiChoice, and MultiChoice pays eNCA, SABC News and Newzroom Afrika to exist. 

Toothless regulations? 

Speaking of Icasa - it is South Africa's Icasa that has oversight of ensuring compliance with South Africa's Electronic Communications Act (ECA) - regulations that prohibit foreign entities from holding more than 20% of the voting rights of a South African broadcaster like MultiChoice.

According to the ECA, no foreign company or foreigner may have control over a commercial broadcasting licensee like MultiChoice in South Africa, and neither may a foreign company or foreigner have any financial interest, or an interest in either voting shares or capital of more than 20% in a commercial broadcasting licensee.

Canal+'s possible takeover deal of MultiChoice will also be subjected to several other regulations and approvals - including South Africa's Takeover Regulation Panel and the country's Competition Tribunal, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), as well as the Financial Surveillance department - but the ECA is perhaps the most important one.

Once Canal+'s takeover of MultiChoice is complete, what will that say about South Africa's "regulations" and the strength and functionality of the regulatory framework to act as a bulwark to prevent what it's supposed to prevent?

Canal+ wants MultiChoice. Regulations prohibit that. Canal+ eventually gets MultiChoice. The regulations ... why do they then even exist? 

If the deal goes through, it will be proof that despite regulations, any foreign company can in full effect swoop in and buy and own a South African broadcast media company. The existing regulations will have been exposed as being essentially worthless.

In the end, if or when Canal+ swallows MultiChoice, it won't be about "better" or more content. 

It will be about two premium pay-TV companies combining to decrease costs, consolidate infrastructure, trying to scale up to become a bigger fish in an ocean where similar megalodons are facing extinction, trying to scale up to try and survive in a Netflix-world. And about money.

26th Encounters festival boss on why local documentary filmmaking matters more than ever.

by Thinus Ferreira

While more viewers flock to populist reality TV fare like Real Housewives, feature documentaries like those currently screening at 2024's 26th Encounters documentary festival are what often have the longer real-world impact and power to affect change.

"In South Africa, the challenge however is often to secure funding for making documentaries because, in order for us to make the kind of documentaries that travel to other markets, we do need external funding, we do need global funds, we do need to enter into co-productions," Mandisa Zitha, festival director of the 26th Encounters South Africa International Documentary Festival, tells me.

The 26 Encounters festival that just kicked off takes place in Cape Town and Johannesburg until 30 June, features a compelling line-up of films from around the globe.

From the Congo to Kenya, the United States and Europe, and from Lebanon to Japan, close to 50 documentaries are currently being screened in Cape Town at the Ster-Kinekor V&A Waterfront and the Labia Theatre, and in Johannesburg at the Ster-Kinekor Rosebank Nouveau and The Bioscope Independent Cinema. 

"Documentary filmmaking has become a very competitive environment globally and the funding for documentaries are becoming constrained," Zitha says. 

"The way documentaries are being funded is rapidly changing. I think the documentary genre is experiencing a lot of challenges globally and locally."

"But I can say that because of the streaming platforms like MultiChoice's Showmax and Netflix commissioning more local documentary productions, some of our local South African documentary producers and directors are finding some new opportunities for work through these streaming services and docu-series."

Complex realities opened up

Mandisa Zitha says documentaries fulfil a very important role as a genre "and it's a priority to encourage that and to cultivate audiences to actually engage with and watch the documentary format - especially encouraging a younger generation of filmmakers to try making these".

"Documentaries are a really unique visual genre that deals with the complex realities of our societies. It's a way for us to mediate and help and discuss and reflect and to engage with what is going on around us," she says.

"Documentaries always provide the viewer with another perspective that we often don't get in mainstream media. So documentaries and local South African documentary-making is a genre that should be encouraged. Together with that, we need to cultivate a growing audience for this work so that it can continue to play this key role that it fulfils in impacting society."

Zitha says the public should support the 26th Encounters festival and make the effort to go and watch and support the work of the documentary filmmakers on show.

"We have documentary festivals and art festivals but the public doesn't always realise that it's very difficult to sustain these organisations and initiatives. I think globally there is a crisis for funding for film festivals and festivals generally," she says.

"Some of the biggest documentary film festivals in the world are making statements around funding crises. The public, if they enjoy the documentaries we present - which are films which you will simply not see on your normal cinema circuit or on video streaming platforms ... this is really a special opportunity to see some of the best documentaries from around the world."

"The 26th Encounters is a unique opportunity to see some of the best documentary talent in South Africa and to support an initiative that keeps bringing this to local audiences."

"This year we're bringing in a documentary symposium as well as a new event to really interrogate what's happening within the African documentary landscape and we hope to grow this in the future as a pivotal event on our Encounters festival platforms," Zitha says.

"People get interesting discussions after screenings, the guest protagonists of films are present to talk to, and that's what people enjoy about going to Encounters: Being in community with other documentary enthusiasts."

Film line-up

Some of the documentaries included in the 26th Encounters festival film line-up include Soundtrack to a Coup d'État, a riveting documentary that delves into the complex relationship between music and political upheaval. 

Directed by Johan Grimonprez, jazz and politics are intertwined in this depiction of murky international interference in decolonisation and the Cold War.

In Mother City, filmmakers follow activists of the Reclaim the City movement over six years as they make Cape Town's abandoned spaces their home and use it as a base from which to lobby for the needs of the working class.

The Kenyan film Our Land, Our Freedom directed by Zippy Kimundu, is a highly charged conversation about stolen land that follows a woman's attempt to reclaim ancestral land.

Black Box Diaries directed by journalist Shiori Itō bravely investigates a case of sexual violence perpetrated against her to bring her powerful, politically connected assailant to justice.

Johatsu – Into Thin Air directed by Andreas Hartmann and Arata Mori explores the phenomenon of people who disappear known as Johatsu or "the evaporated" in Japan where around 80 000 people vanish every year. 

The film shows people who have chosen to do this and those looking for them, as well as the people who help them so they can reset their lives in places where no one knows them. 

Hollywoodgate from Egyptian director Ibrahim Nash documents the transition of Afghanistan to Taliban rule after the US withdrawal in 2021. The Taliban took over one of the USA's CIA bases with infrastructure of containers bearing the name "Hollywood Gate" filled with weapons enabling them to equip a new combat unit. Over a year, Nash'at follows the development of this unit and provides an authentic inside glimpse into the Taliban's rapid rise to power. 

Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano, directed by Cyril Aris is a heartwarming and lucid documentary. After a massive explosion devastated the port in Beirut in August 2020, a determined crew of filmmakers continued their project in an effort of resistance. Amidst the city's destruction and an economic crisis during Covid-19 this family of artists finds meaning and purpose through the transformative power of cinema.

Nick Chevallier, Leigh Wood and Guido Zanghi's Wild Coast Warriors explores the fight against the establishment of oil exploration operations by the Shell corporation in the Wild Coast in an effort to prevent the irreversible destruction of the environment and surrounding communities.

Diary of an Elephant Orphan directed by Hermien Roelvert-Van takes the audience through the struggles and turmoils of orphaned baby elephants and the people who have made it their life's mission to save them. 

The film follows Khanyisa, a baby elephant newly orphaned, on her journey in becoming strong enough to join a herd of her own.

How much money you'll need to become part of Bridgerton's ton: Here are the cost of those Regency Era mansions.

by Thinus Ferreira

Dearest gentle readers would need that which is not spoken of in polite society - and a lot of it - for even the most humblest of abodes in Netflix's Bridgerton. Here's how much those lavish Regency-era houses in the Netflix drama series will cost you today to become part of the ton. 

The American real estate website AgentAdvice crunched the numbers on Bridgerton currently in its third season on Netflix, and Queen Charlotte - as is only right - owns the most expensive resident, estimated at a mammoth $564 million (R10,2 billion).

The Duke and Duchess of Hastings, living well below their means, own the second and third most valuable properties, with a combined value of $74.5 million (R1.34 billion).

You'd be able to snap up the Mondrich residence as Bridgerton's most affordable home for the bargain-basement price of just $4.3 million (R77.9 million).

AgentAdvice researched the eye-watering cost of purchasing the stately homes featured in Bridgerton if they were put on the market today. 

The American real estate experts calculated the estimated market value for each property by multiplying the mansion's estimated floor space in square feet, by the local area's median price per square foot, and converted it from British pound to American dollar, in today's prices.

Each building’s area measurements were sourced from Ordnance Survey, the official national mapping agency for Great Britain and area measurements were multiplied by the number of floors for each building to produce a total estimated interior floor size. This was then converted from square meters to square feet.

The median house prices and sizes for each local area were sourced from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, which was then used to determine a median price per square foot. 

The most to least expensive residences are revealed:

1. Queen Charlotte's residence: Hampton Court Palace

Richmond upon Thames, London

Estimated value: $564 810 582

Queen Charlotte befittingly has the most expensive residence, with experts revealing its market value at a staggering $564 million. This was derived from the palace's estimated floor space of 712,054 sq ft, featuring a 55-room kitchen once staffed by around 200 people and the median price per sq ft of $790 for its location in the London borough of Richmond Upon Thames.

2. The Duke of Hastings' London residence: Wilton House

Salisbury, Wiltshire

Estimated value: $47 488 515

At less than a tenth of the price of Queen Charlotte’s, the Duke of Hastings' London home would fetch an estimated $47.5 million in today’s market. It is among the best value for money, being the second-largest of Bridgerton’s residences at 124,581 sq ft, but with the second-cheapest median price per sq ft of $380 for the local area.

3. The Duke of Hastings’ Clyvedon Castle Castle Howard

Ryedale, North Yorkshire

Estimated value: $27 035 175

Adding to the Duke of Hastings’ property portfolio is Clyvedon Castle, the fictional county home where Daphne and Simon move to after their wedding. The stately home in the heart of Yorkshire has an impressive estimated size of 88,888 sq ft. With the cheapest price among the hit show's filming locations, at $303 per sq ft, the castle can still fetch a cool price tag of $27 million.

4. The Bridgerton residence: Ranger’s House

Greenwich, London

Estimated value: $8 222 960

The Bridgerton family’s mansion is the fourth most expensive property. In the story, it's located on Mayfair’s Grosvenor Square. But in reality, it is about eight miles away from central London, in Greenwich. It is the third-smallest house, still at a remarkable 14,621 sq ft, with a cost of $560 per sq ft, resulting in an estimated value of $8.2 million.

5. Lady Danbury’s estate: Holburne Museum of Art

Bath, Somerset

Estimated value: $7 094 227

The location for Lady Danbury's residence was originally constructed as a hotel and then turned into a museum that remains open to the public. It is one of Bridgerton's modest properties, much less than a tenth the size of Queen Charlotte’s at 16,147 sq ft. Compared to its cost per sq ft of $438, it equates to an estimated market value of $7.09 million.

6. Featherington residence: No.1 Royal Crescent

Bath, Somerset

Estimated value: $6 299 044

The Featherington household lives in the show's sixth most expensive residence. The sweeping U-shaped building comprising 30 historic terraced homes, is originally home to Penelope. No.1 Royal Crescent, now a museum, serves as the exterior of the family home. At around 14,338 square feet and a price per sq ft of $438 (the same locality as Lady Danbury’s), you’d need to fork out an estimated $6,299,044 to buy the property today.

7. Mondrich residence: Kingston Bagpuize House

Abingdon, Oxfordshire

Estimated value: $4 280 532

Bridgerton's latest family residence, Kent Estate, which belongs to the Mondrichs, is also known as Kingston Bagpuize House in real life. It is the most "affordable" of the show's opulent filming locations and the smallest at 9,821 sq ft. The local price per sq ft, $434, brings the total estimated market value to $4.28 million, requiring homebuyers to spend around $856 000 for a 20% deposit.

According to an AgentAdvice spokesperson, "Bridgerton uses some of the United Kingdom's most beautiful and historically important buildings, acting as a backdrop to some of the show's most important scenes and home to key characters".

"While these properties would be a dream to own for pretty much everyone, it's fun to see how much they could be worth in today’s value."

"Real estate values range from a few million for the Mondrich residence to over half a billion for Queen Charlotte’s residence, which almost rivals the size of Buckingham Palace."

Real estate’s TV stars get a dose of reality.

What happens to shows like Million Dollar Listing when the real-estate industry takes a turn? 

"I guess you could say you've got to kill or be killed."

by Ellen Gamerman, The Wall Street Journal

The last time a new season of Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles aired on Bravo, the show was its usual unbridled celebration of infinity pools, imported marble and luxury amenities that historians will cite if they ever have to explain the collapse of civilization (bathtub by the balcony, anyone?).

"To be honest, I'm having a hell of a year," real-estate agent Tracy Tutor told the cameras in the early-2023 finale, which only glanced at market troubles. "So I don't want to be cocky, but I might just be entering the humblebrag era."

Bah, humblebrag. In the new season premiering next month, Tutor is stressed out. "This is an incredibly frustrating market," she says to a group of agents before the show cuts to an edit of dismal real estate news. "Listings were coming last year that were super easy. It ain't that market anymore."

Perhaps no profession has been more glamorized by reality TV than real estate. The shows don't just create drama but offer their own aspirational version of the industry, selling audiences on a view of homeownership that is escapist and full of vicarious thrills.

Now the genre faces a new challenge: walking the line between celebrating the sales that still happen and acknowledging the drop-off in deals that has upended the business. All while some viewers are struggling to find houses to buy or grappling with real estate careers they can't sustain.

Real estate shows have ruled reality TV for years thanks to eight-figure properties and celebrity agents. Now the genre has a new star: the overpriced mansion nobody's buying.

High-end home inventory is down in choice markets. Mortgage rates remain higher than 2022 levels. Recent legal battles have agents warning of diminished commissions. And real estate professionals, some of whom only joined the business because of what they saw on TV, are feeling the strain.

The market angst pops up across these shows, though it might be most palpable on Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles, a granddaddy of the genre. The Los Angeles market is particularly challenging now due to a new "mansion tax" on sales of high-end properties. 

"It's a hell of a lot more of a fight for your commission than it's ever been," says one of the show's stars, Josh Altman, referring to his dealings with wealthy buyers who are trying harder than ever to cut costs. "Deals are getting done a lot skinnier than they used to."

Producers for the show had to prepare network executives for what was once unthinkable: episodes of only failed deals. The series recorded just one closing in the first four months of shooting its 15th season, a producer said.

That's compared with sale after sale for years in seasons past. That scarcity has amped up the cutthroat behaviour, says Altman. "I guess you could say you've got to kill or be killed," he says. "You've got to have that mentality in this market." The upside for the networks is that bad behaviour makes for good TV. 

Ryan Serhant, a former Million Dollar Listing New York agent who once jumped in a pool in his underwear to sabotage a rival's open house, sees the challenging conditions adding to the narrative tension on screen. "Many sellers can't afford to sell, many buyers can't afford to buy," he says, "but where there's volatility, there's opportunity".

In Serhant's new show, Owning Manhattan, which premieres on Netflix in late June, the hustle is on from the first episode, when the agent shows a client what he calls the world's most expensive penthouse at $250 million. 

The address is on Billionaires' Row, the skyscraper swath of New York City where several properties have struggled to find buyers. "You'll see helicopters fly beneath us," Serhant tells the representative for a family in Asia looking for a gathering spot in the United States.

In full sales mode, he tells a story that includes this nugget: A ping-pong table in this New York City apartment would be the highest ping-pong table on the planet.

Serhant, chief executive of his eponymous real-estate company and other related businesses, tries to package the property as a steal, saying the apartment is priced at $6 000 less a square foot than another neighbouring penthouse. The client turns him down. 

The shows, which flash commission figures on screen with each property, lured many newcomers to the profession, often with unrealistic ideas about what the job is actually like. 

"There's a lot of people that think that, oh, they're going to join in year one, they're going to make a couple hundred grand and, you know, it’s amazing," says Mauricio Umansky, the real estate mogul who stars in Buying Beverly Hills and rose to fame on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. "They realise that, you know, 12 months into the job, they haven't made a cent."

The agents became TV personalities whose career paths, roller-coaster friendships and gossipy love lives made the whole enterprise look like one long rich-people party. 

"So many girls come up to me and say, 'You're my inspiration. I just got my real estate licence because of you," says former Selling Sunset real-estate agent Christine Quinn, who still works in the industry. "I say, 'Congratulations. I'm so proud of you. But don't quit your day job.

"The latest season of Selling Sunset, which follows real-estate company the Oppenheim Group, gets into industry problems, including when characters bemoan the mansion tax. "That makes me nauseous even thinking about, one agent says while touring a $26 million home in an episode titled "The Real Estate Apocalypse". 

For some real-estate veterans, the job is hard enough without TV-inspired newcomers descending on open houses, teetering up floating staircases in stilettos and touring the bathrooms in designer suits.

"These jokers that are driving these $200 000 cars, they've done three deals in their life - we all laugh at them, we all roll our eyes," says Eric Lavey, a real estate adviser with Sotheby's in Beverly Hills, California, "They're diluting the value of true real estate professionals".

The sales are at the core of the genre, though not everything viewers are seeing is real, says former Selling Sunset agent Quinn. "I had a lot of fake phone calls where I wasn't talking to anyone at all," she says. "I'm going to take this call outside.' That’s how we'd usually do it."

Pictures of what looks like Selling Sunset cast members talking to a home screen or an open camera screen rather than using the phone app have circulated online.

Netflix and the Oppenheim Group didn't respond to requests for comment.

Umansky argues that the shows have enlarged the talent pool, drawing professionals who might not have thought about the job otherwise.

"I'm going back to the day where real-estate agents were just a hair above a used-car salesman," says Umansky, who is founder and chief executive of the real-estate company The Agency. "I don't think people feel like that about us anymore."

Selling Sunset helped jump-start the career of Gia Aldisert, 22, who was a college student working at a steakhouse in Malibu when she discovered the show.

"It inspired me in a way, seeing how amazing and powerful the women on TV were," says Aldisert, now a Los Angeles agent with no plans to quit.

"I know people in the industry are deciding to maybe take a step back from real estate or maybe getting defeated," she says. "I say they have to stick it out." 

Andy Klaric, a 25-year-old New Yorker who shows luxury homes to his nearly 270 000 followers on social media, was entranced as a kid by the picture of real estate on Million Dollar Listing New York.

After posting a 2022 viral video where he pretended to bark and meow a conversation about real estate, his career picked up speed.  

The agent at Serhant's company who builds his personal brand by carrying a quaint green briefcase wherever he goes - including while selling a $9.6 million property just the other day - says he eats, breathes and sleeps real estate, regardless of what the market is doing. 

"Sometimes I wake up thinking I transacted something and it wasn't real," he says. "I had to wake up and get a glass of water to be fully awake to realise it was just a dream."